As soon as the Liberty football team’s 2024 season ended in early January, head coach Jamey Chadwell was searching for ways to ensure what happened last season would not repeat itself. An 8-4 season by many standards is a successful one, but, for the Flames, coming off a 13-1 campaign a year prior that included a Conference USA championship and Fiesta Bowl appearance, it was a letdown.
Chadwell and his staff wanted the team to return to basics, to focus on earning everything rather than letting an attitude of entitlement creep into the locker room.
“Our word this year is about earning, earning the opportunity, earning the right to be a champion,” Chadwell said shortly after the team opened spring practice back in February. “Every day, you’ve got to earn the opportunity. It’s a privilege to be a Flame. Earn that opportunity by the way you prepare.”
That has been the theme all year long for the football team. When Chadwell, offensive lineman Aaron Fenimore, and safety Brylan Green arrived in Frisco, Texas for CUSA’s annual media day, that theme was once again the main talking point from the Flames.
“I think we lost sight of the value of having an opportunity to play football and how important that is,” Chadwell said Tuesday in Frisco. “As a team, I think we lost sight of that. I think we took for granted some of the things that Liberty allows us to have. We have some great things, great resources. I think we allowed whether entitlement or just not being grateful.”
Coming off the banner year in 2023 and with several key pieces returning, many were projecting the Flames as one of the top contenders to be the top ranked Group of Five Champion and grab a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff. Liberty started off 5-0 but squeaked out wins at New Mexico State and at home against East Carolina and FIU. The wheels would begin to spin off the axles with a midweek loss in October at Kennesaw State, despite being favored by more than 3 touchdowns. A loss the following week at home to Jacksonville State and Liberty’s hopes of repeating as CUSA champions were all but extinguished. A regular season loss at Sam Houston put the remaining embers out.
“No matter how talented you are, no matter how good you are, if you are not together, if you are not all going in the same direction, it doesn’t matter,” said Chadwell at CUSA media day. “You are battling against each other. At points in the season (last year), I felt like maybe we did that. As the head coach, that was my job to either correct it or fix it or not let it happen. I didn’t do a very good job of doing that.”
Following the regular season, several key figures of the team the past couple of seasons entered the transfer portal Even more opted out of the Bahamas Bowl, leading to a beatdown at the hands of Buffalo just after New Year’s.
“For the whole off-season, we did not have the really nice locker room,” Chadwell explained. “We put them in the visitor’s locker room. They had to earn the right to get back into their locker room. Going back to the basics that this is a special place. Liberty is a special place. They care about each and every individual, but we’re not going to take it for granted. It is a privilege to be a player here, to be a part of the program here as a coach and a player. We want that mentality. It slipped. As the head coach, that’s my fault. I had to make sure we corrected it. (Having to use the visitor locker rooms in the spring) was one of the ways I thought maybe we could get their attention. I don’t know if it did or not, it seemed like it did. You got to earn everything, and I mean everything.”
Fenimore, one of the team leaders who was a freshman All-American last year, received the message from Coach Chadwell and the staff.
“I think it set the tone for the team,” said Fenimore. “It set the tone like, ‘Alright, we’re back to earning things. This is how it’s going to be.’ If you want to get out of this situation, you’ve got to come to work every day, and you’ve got to earn it. I think it set the tone right from the get-go.”
Entering 2025, Liberty has a new team. Many of the familiar faces from the last couple of years have moved on. New names and faces have arrived. Some that did not have as prominent roles, will step into leadership roles. It’s a new year and a new team, and Coach Chadwell hopes it has a new mindset.
“I do think our staff and our players have had a reinvigorated focus on making sure we don’t allow, I’ll use the old quote, ‘the enemies within the tent’ to hurt our program,” Chadwell said. “I think that we’re together. Anybody that we have added, senses that and knows that we’re together. I think that’s going to be a difference for us this year. In closer games, if talent is equal, the teams that are closer together have a chance to do that. Last year, we weren’t as connected. I’m hoping and I believe this year that will go in our favor, and we will be a total team.”
